Twinning ceremony with Gallivare Sweden

Barga this morning is officially twinned with a third partner after East Lothian in Scotland and Hayange in France. Gallivare in Northern Sweden is the new twinning partner. The twinning between the two countries started in December of last year with a document signed in Gallivare and concluded this morning in Palazzo Pancrazi with the Mayor of Barga, Umberto Sereni and Tommy NystrÃ¶m the Mayor of Gallivare signing the final twinning document. Gallivare is the main town in the GÃ¤llivare Municipality in northern Sweden.

Gallivare is a multilingual municipality, a sizeable portion of the population is made up of Finnish and Sami speakers. In fact present at a ceremony this morning were a small delegation of 15 members of the Sami community dressed in traditional costume.

The Sami are the indigenous peoples of the Arctic Area of the Nordic countries. Reindeer husbandry and fishing have always been important livelihoods of the Sami, who are closely bound to nature, and for whom nature is important.

SÃ¡pmi, the Sami Country, includes areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. SÃ¡pmi starts at the middle of Norway and includes the eastern regions of the Kola Peninsula.